WhatsApp is still available just not for Windows Phone 8 users

We’re getting a lot of emails (some of them with links to some shoddy reporting) that WhatsApp has been pulled from the Windows Phone Store and even some sinister “because they want to charge us” rumor mongering.

For the record, WhatsApp is still available as we just uninstalled and re-downloaded it to our Lumia 900. But true, the app is hidden. The issue for which many of you are experiencing is that app is not available for Windows Phone 8 devices. That’s a different issue and is most likely one of the dozens of compatibility problems some apps are having with the new platform. SkyDrive and Skype too were unavailable for a few weeks when 8 devices were first making the round, so it make sense that WhatsApp probably fell into that trap as well.

For the record, there is no evidence that WhatsApp will come back at a price and since it’s a free, we find it hard to gripe too much about what can be best described as poor service and a lousy app anyway.

Rant Alert: Look, WhatsApp has never been good on Windows Phone. Heck, it’s barely good on the iPhone. If you’re expecting that to change, well, you’re a believer. We’re not. Our advice if you don’t like a service or the software that’s powering it, move on. We’re running Kik just fine on Windows Phone 8—and there are plenty of other good services out there like TalkBox, which do even more. WhatsApp users just seem like a tortured bunch to us—everyone hates the app and the service, but they can’t live without it either. Maybe it’s time to convince your friends and family to move on?

Windows Phone 7 users: you should still be able to get WhatsApp here in the Store. Windows Phone 8 users, you’re out of luck until that crack team of developer dropouts releases an update. We’ll of course keep you posted as soon as that new version hits to bring your WP8 compatibility. We'll then followup with a post about how the app still doesn't work well.

Reader comments

WhatsApp is still available just not for Windows Phone 8 users

What are you people talking about it work's great for me i speak with my girlfriend oversea's and i send files and videos all day with no problem.I use lumia 710 with no problem it's fast and simple the only thing i would say is that it like to use battery but that's when i'm using it i guess.

WhatsApp is a very popular messenger application supported accross multiple platforms (Blackberry, IPhone, Android), so the idea of just moving to a different messenger platform it will take time and it's not really a good service. Ideally, there should be action on helping the developers to come up with a new version for Windows Phone 8. Otherwise we are just neglecting a niche and a market of users, and preventing the use of Windows Phone 8.

I use WhatsApp for texting other platform's users (iOS, Android, S40, you name it) and use facebook chat to people who online on facebook, if they chose to use it), and of course, MSN to fellow WP users, and MSN users of course ^^a (I use both facebook chat and MSN from Message Hub). The only thing left is how to communicate using GTalk to fellow workers since we use it on the office. IM+ doesn't meet my expectation.

But yeah ... WhatsApp does sucks on WP. Only the UI is better from iOS version (which is cluttered by timestamp and double-check mark where in WP, they arrage them neatly on one elegant square box). But the performance ... duh ... slow as hell. But still ... better than LINE in my usage experiences. LINE's push notification often comes late, and the badge counter is inacurate. As for KIK, try it once, and uninstall it. No one on my contact using it so I'm alone in KIK's realm :(

I'm using WhatsApp on my Nokia Lumia 920 since the day I got it.
It doesn't appear in the Store search, but I installed it via my Purchases page on the Micorosft Windows Phone 8 website.
Works fine, by the way, even better than on WP7.5.

Also i havent seen anyone mention anything about the WhatsApp alternative called "Line". I have not used it as none of my contacts use it but its supposed to be the most downloaded app in 20 countries and is available in 230 countries for Blackberry, Windows Phone, Iphone, Android, Windows PC and Mac.
Has anyone tried it yet. It's very popular in Japan

I installed Whatsappon my HTC 8X last week Wednesday and Whatsapp has been working ok since then. However i have been waiting for an update for ages as i had a Nokia with WP7.5. I noticed as soon as they took it down for WP8 Devices and i contacted WhatsApp Support and this is what they said.

"Max, Nov 20 21:38 (PST):
Hi,
Thanks for your message. Sorry, WhatsApp is not fully supported on Windows Phone 8 and we cannot comment on future timelines.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. We would be happy to help!
Best / Saludos,
Max
WhatsApp Support Team"

WhatsApp has been a necessary evil on all platforms. Many friends on Android keep telling that it's crappy on their phones too, receiving duplicate notifications, sometimes opening it doesn't show new messages (you need to close it and open it again to see them), photos not downloading and so on.

They have been dropping the ball for so long. I hope they can get their act together because no matter that KiK or other app is better, if no one uses it, it's useless. Convinving all your family and friends (and their friends!) to switch to another app? Just not going to happen, people will use the most popular, unfortunately.

DO NOT SEND ME SPAM!
Just had an e-mail and for the life of me I DO NOT recall giving this page permission to send me spam. Please do not hide the opt out option when people join and we shouldn't have to search for it!
Other than that I love the place.

I downloaded it on Monday with my 8x. It is the best app ever precisely because everyone has it and it works just as good as MSN messenger with better emoticons.
There are some issues on Windows Phone so far but it is perfectly serviceable. Runs a lot better and perfectly fine on Android and IOS though.

whatsapp works perfectly fine on iPhone. Don't be so butthurt if they're not updating it for this platform. be a little professional when reporting. publicly dissing what is perhaps the most widely used IM service of its kind isn't going to get you anywhere.

Here, here. People talk about the quality of WP apps as being poorer versions of ios versions. It's not like the WP SDK is designed to build inferior apps, it's mediocre apps built by indifferent developers that give the whole platform a bad name.

You're as anonymous to me as I am to you. And that's not even the point. The reason why I used 'butthurt' is because that is exactly what your original post reeks of. And what's with targetting WhatsApp? Perhaps give the official Twitter app a try? Go try the Facebook app and tell me how well the live tiles work.
The reason why WhatsApp sucked on WP7 is because WP7 sucked it self. Every single multiplatform app sucked the most on WP7. The entire notification system on that platform predates the birth of Christ.
And how you can rant about WhatsApp not releasing a WP8 app is just beyond me. Perhaps you're unaware that the official Skype app was not available at launch either. Heck it's still not available beyond a 'preview' version. So when Microsoft fails to deliver its own service at launch, why moan about others being late?
Have you tried contacting WhatsApp? Did you even bother to do it? For all you know they really are working on a WP8 version and have no made it public yet. How do you think this rant of yours will look like when in 2 weeks they come out with a kick ass app?

Oh shut up already. There are other more complete, more responsive, better coded IM apps on the market like KiK or LINE to name a few. Instead of shitting on the platform, tell WhatsApp to hire some serious and talented coders, like Rudy Huyn or Jeff Wilcox instead. These guys are brilliant and astute coders. Not WhatsApp's. Their app has ALWAYS been slow and failed to abide by Metro conventions. The quality is just not here, and being the #1 cross-messaging platform (source for that?) is not an excuse for being complacent.

You might have noticed that this is not an iPhone community, so nobody cares how perfectly fine it works there. And because it's the most widely used IM service it's not allowed to criticise? Just because it is the most widely used IM service it's a shame to offer such a nonsatisfying app, even more if they want to charge for the service.

And if you say it works perfectly on iPhone, you are mistaken and lying! I have it on iOS, Android and WP, all of which have issues. iOS may have the least amount of issues, but surely isn't problem-free.

The one thing WhatsApp has going for it is that you are able to sent videos you can't do that with KIK.
On my 920 some Whatsapp notifications show up more than 20mins to late, I never had that issue on my DVP, maybe thats the reason it got pulled again.

Current features for Nokia Lumia and Windows Phone smartphones include search, group creation plus photos, messaging encryption, location and contact sharing, etc. Upcoming features launching with the Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 will include a new user experience that takes advantage of a more panoramic look and feel, additional languages, emoticons, and more.

“With billions of messages delivered each day, WhatsApp’s core mission is to enable people from all around the world to continually stay connected to those that matter most: their family, friends, and colleagues,” said Brian Acton, Co-Founder of WhatsApp. “Through our partnership with Nokia, we are excited to launch a differentiated user experience tailored for the Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820.”

So at least you could expect that Nokia WP8 users shouldn't be suffering too much.

I'm so confused. I'm running it on my Lumia 920 and so is my gf on her Lumia 920. Its has actually been the the only stable and consistent messaging app for us. IM+ was my go to when the gf had an iPhone but they have since pulled the Beep service which is bs. Kik is way worse than What's app when it comes to notifications and tile count indicator. And for some reason Skype doesn't send my messages whether I'm on WiFi or cellular. I wish I could just use Facebook chat but the WiFi at work blocks it even though I can pull updates and pics from my Facebook account.

On a separate issue, I hope they update what's app with a lock screen icon for unread messages or tie into the message preview where the calendar would normally be. Maybe have the double wide tile to see the latest message with a pic of the sender. Man, windows phone 8 rocks the more I think about all the amazing abilities to customize!!!

Your work can block FB chat if you use it through the messaging app on your phone? Meanign the messaging tile that you use for regular text you can FB chat on that as well, not sure how that can be blocked, but im no IT guy.

whatsapp was good prior to two updates ago, after that when i had on my 900, it was sluggish, couldn't load pictures fast or it would just hang for awhile and messages would be delayed.

Same goes for wp8 version, if i am on wifi, the messages that i send gets delayed. I will get notificagtion on incoming messages and when i open the thread, nothing new shows up, i have to keep closing and opening to finally getting it.

Also, whatsapp makes my phone HOT, like not sexy hot, but hot like a potato.

Hopefully they are fixing this app, close to just dumping it all together.

That's not how the Store works. Devs don't hide their app from the Store when they're ready to release an app update. WP8 apps and WP7 apps are one and the same.

I'm not sure how this "The app disappeared...they must be updating it!" meme started, but it's nonsense. Just because an app is hidden doesn't mean an impending update is about to happen. What it usually means is "Our app is broke...don't download it".

Redmond Pie also took our story, more or less, as we reported that a day earlier back in August.

I have currently hidden Mehdoh due to compatibility issues with WP8, which I'm taking flack for, so I'd rather people not download it until I can release a version compatible with WP8 (which itself is proving more troublesome than I'd like due to bugs and issues with WP8 itself!).
It's still available from the link in the @mehdoh profile, and the link off mehdoh.com btw. But if you use the instagram, or soundcloud, side of things then give it a miss on WP8 for now.

Is impossible to convince all of your friends to change the app just because the WP one sucks. I think is quite wrong to compare the WP app with the iOS, Android and Symbian one, they fail SOMETIMES, but most of the times it works just fine, in WP is always bad.

HAHA LMFAO. They don't like whatsapp here don't they! But it's true, it has many problems. But it is so populair and everybody uses it. In my new data plan I dropped the sms bundle because everybody uses whatsapp or iMessage!

I have no idea what you guys are talking about. I have a Lumia 920 and I was able to install whatsapp with no issues. In fact i was able to download it on day 2...Let me know if you guys want screenshots as proof!

Its true,it does work on SOME Nokia lumia 920handsets,but not all...crazy as it is...i had it in my previous handset which unfortunately was faulty and had to be returned and i got replacement which says that it doesn't support whatsapp application,am gutted,do i need to send this handset back too as a faulty or wait for new software,i want and need whatsapp,don't want to be without it:(no good Nokia!!!